
Qass. 
Book. 






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A DISCOURSE 



DEATH OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 

DELIVERED IN THE '/C/.J* it 

ON SUNDAY EVENING, APRIL 2 3, 186 5. 



REV. FRANK L. ROBBINS, 



PASTOR OF THE CHURCH. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

HENRY B. ASHMEAD, BOOK AND JOB PRINTER, 
Nos. 1102 and 1104 Sansom Street. 

1865. 



A DISCOURSE 



DEATH OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 



DELIVERED IN THE 



$wttfMtl gvt riwttrimi mx\m% 



ON SUNDAY EVENING, APRIL 2?.. 18 6 5. 



REV. FRANK L. ROBBINS. 
u 

PASTOR OF THE CHURCH. 



PHILADELPHIA : 
HENRY B. ASHMEAD, BOOK AND JOB PRINTER, 

Nos. 1102 and 1104 Sansom Street. 

18G5. 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE CONGREGATION, 
FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION. 



A DISCOURSE. 



What a contrast ! How strange and startling the 
vicissitudes of human life ! 

A few weeks since, President Lincoln, for the second 
time, stood on the steps of the Capitol at Washington, 
to be re-invested with power and dominion over this 
vast empire. 

He had been tried and was found faithful. He had 
been re-elected by overwhelming majorities, and on the 
fourth of March last he received and took the oath of of- 
fice, amidst the homage of millions of rejoicing citizens. 
Under the brightest auspices he entered upon his 
second term of office. The clouds of war were roll- 
ing away. The golden rays of the sun of peace 
were beginning to be seen and felt. Men comforted 
and congratulated themselves, and each other, saying, 
The era of wild war is passing; the reign of peace 
and prosperity is at hand. Everywhere, victories upon 
victories were being piled up, and rebellion was going 
down before the resistless march of our armies. 



6 

Soon came the news, stirring in its very depths the 
the mighty heart of the nation, and causing the Repub- 
lic to rock, and heave, and sway, by reason of its pro- 
found emotions of joy and gratitude — "Richmond is 
taken !" Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, for 
the hour of her judgment is come, and her princes and 
they who were made rich by reason of their merchan- 
dise of " slaves and souls of men," stand afar off weep- 
ing and wailing for fear of her torment, saying, 
Alas ! alas that strong city, for in one hour is she de- 
serted and made desolate ! 

Then came the news — swift succeeding — " Lee has 
surrendered !" — the power that so long defied the Union 
armies is shivered at last — rebellion is crushed — the 
Union is saved — authority and law, justice and freedom 
are triumphant ! 

We were wild with excitement — delirious with joy. 
Probably the sun never shone upon a more intensely ju- 
bilant, self-confident people. Noio, we said, is it proven 
that our Government will stand like the everlasting; 
mountains. Noiv, is it demonstrated that our Republic, 
though rocked on the earthquake of internal treason, or 
assailed by external combinations of hostile power, can- 
not be subverted or overthrown, for the might of Omni- 
potence is in the just principles upon which it is based. 
JYoiv, let Despotism tremble on its iron throne, for there 
is contagion in the example of Freedom, contending for 
existence, offering its best blood in sacrifice, and at 



length emerging from the long and bloody struggle, tri- 
umphant over the old spirit of caste, the spirit of slavery, 
fell and fiendish, the spirit of oppression and wrong, 
and rising in a cloudless sky, glorious and resistless as 
the sun in its path of fiery splendor. 

But alas, alas ! while these grand anticipations for the 
future of our Republic remain to us — while, indeed, 
under that mysterious Providence which rules our human 
affairs, the hearts of millions have been drawn together, 
and the nation has been made mightier in its power to 
hate the spirit of treason, and to hate Slavery, its ac- 
cursed mother ; while millions have been led to swear by 
the Eternal, never to consent to any re-adjustment until 
every vestige of this inhumanity is swept away forever, 
under the influence of this unutterable sorrow — how 
changed is the mood and the posture of this nation ! 
Let there be no more ringing of bells — no processions 
and illuminations in honor of victories — no mirth and 
feasting, and revelry and hilarity. All over the land 
for these past eight days there has rested the cloud of 
gloom, and the thick clouds of the nation's infinite grief, 
and our thrilling wail of sorrow has been increasingly 
ascending to Him — God over all immortal, eternal, invi- 
sible, and blessed forever — " in whose hands our breath 
is, and whose are all our ways." 

" Our feasts have been turned into mourning, and all 
our songs into lamentation ; sackcloth was brought upon 
all loins and baldness upon every head ; our sun has gone 



down at noon ; we are made to mourn as for an only 
son, and the end thereof as a bitter day." 

Humanity has lost a lover. Freedom has lost a 
mighty champion. The poor slave has lost his true 
friend and deliverer — but, thank God, not his deliver- 
ance. Abraham Lincoln did his work well, and when 
he gave to the wings of the wind the immortal procla- 
mation of emancipation, he spake words which can never 
be recalled, and proclaimed a fiat of destiny which can 
never be annulled; he sent forth an influence which 
shall work on and on through the agencies of war and of 
statesmanship, nor cease, until not a slave in all our vast 
domain can be found. 

Who, now that America's pure patriot and just ruler 
has hallowed the act of emancipation by his most pre- 
cious blood, securing thus the permanence of his work, 
and the immortality of his fame, will dare to say aught 
in opposition to emancipation, or in extenuation of 
slavery and treason — one and the same — which mur- 
dered him ? And not alone in this land and among con- 
tiguous peoples, will the influence of this calamity be 
felt, but in far off lands, wherever men are oppressed 
and sigh for freedom ; wherever men work or wait in 
hope, looking for a political regeneration ; wherever men 
— and there be many such among the nations of the old 
Continent — have been anxiously looking upon our strug- 
gle and have felt for us true sympathy ; there will be 
felt unfeigned emotions of sorrow, and inexpressible ab- 



9 

horrence of the crime which has smitten down the man , 
the philanthropist, the emancipationist, the patriot, the 
incorruptible ruler, whom they with us had learned to 
love and reverence as the man raised up by God to 
achieve the redemption of the liberties of mankind. 

To-clay, this night, we have all that remains of our 
murdered President among us, and it seems befitting to 
consecrate this evening hour to meditation upon the 
character and virtues and services of the man gone from 
us to God, and his reward. Indeed, until the last fu- 
neral rites have been performed, and these remains are 
entombed in the church-yard at Springfield, there to 
await the resurrection morning, other feelings and other 
thoughts will be excluded from the heart of this great 
nation, and the people will continue to give themselves 
up to tears and suffocating emotions. 

Perhaps I can say nothing that has not already been 
well said ; but it is a relief to our oppressed and wounded 
feelings to meet together and tell each other how 
much we loved Abraham Lincoln ; just as affectionate 
children incline to come together and talk over the 
goodness and virtues of a beloved father, after his de- 
cease, speaking with loving charity of his traits, and re- 
calling with fondness remote and almost forgotten, or 
of recent and familiar incidents in his life. 

It is remarkable to notice how personal is the feeling 
we have, and how grievously the late President is 
mourned, as if indeed he were the real father of all the 



10 

people. Never was a man carried to his grave ainid 
such universal and profound grief. Why is this so ? Is 
it because the best and most capacious intellect has 
passed away ? no ! And yet Mr. Lincoln was a man 
of marked intellectual traits and vigor ; not narrow, cer- 
tainly, if not capacious and colossal in power of brain. 
Is it because we fear a revolution? In other coun- 
tries the assassination of the monarch would be the sig- 
nal for a revolution. But our system of government is 
such, that upon the removal of the Chief Magistrate 
there is no revolution, no friction, no jar ; the scheme of 
government and the order of society move on, undis- 
turbed. 

Indeed, our Government never was so firm, our insti- 
tutions never were so rooted and grounded in the hearts 
of the people as since the murder of Mr. Lincoln; for 
under the good providence of God, it seems that this 
last baptism of blood and tears is destined to inspire the 
hearts and nerve the arms of our citizens, and concen- 
trate and consolidate and intensify their love and de- 
votion for the republic. Indeed, the blood of Abraham 
Lincoln seems destined to be the cement which is to fas- 
ten in its place the keystone of the arch of the restored, 
and henceforth indissoluble Union. 

Why, then, was this man so tenderly loved ? and why 
is there such touching, pathetic, universal grief over his 
death ? 

The people loved him because he was a man of blame- 



11 

less life ; of an elevated, transparent, firm character, and 
of an affectionate, benign disposition. I will not weaken 
commendation by giving utterance to indiscriminate 
praise of Mr. Lincoln. If he was the perfect and match- 
less man he is described to be in many of the eulogiums 
which have been pronounced since his death ; if he was 
so immeasurably removed in high superiority, and by 
transcendent abilities above other men, the nation might 
have been proud of him, but never would common 
men — the millions — have felt that familiarity of friend- 
ship which was so generally felt, or loved him with so 
filial a love as they did. 

Mr. Lincoln was not highly prominent for intellectual 
abilities. He had not the grand imperial mind of a 
Webster, nor the subtle, metaphysical, intense intellect 
of a Calhoun, nor the splendid and ready powers and 
eloquence of a Fox or a Chatham; and yet his intel- 
lectual abilities were adequate to every occasion; in- 
deed, they were such as seem to have admirably fitted 
him for the work which he has so ably accomplished. 

Where others with higher range and more profound 
faculties might have failed, doubtless would have failed, 
he has succeeded, guided by his matchless sagacity, and 
prudence, and common sense, and native shrewdness. 

His thoughts were his own; they were fresh and 
original, and were clothed with a quaintness, a direct- 
ness, a simplicity of style peculiar to himself. 

The American mind is quick, rapid, eager, impatient of 



12 

slow and elaborate methods and processes; hence whatever 
emanated from Mr. Lincoln's lips or pen was sure to en- 
gross general attention, for it went directly to the root 
of the matter. Everybody understood him ; and often 
the most agreeable surprise has been expressed, when 
others have darkened " counsel by words without know- 
ledge," as a subject has opened, and a practical solution 
of a perplexing question has been suggested in a few para- 
graphs put in his clear, concise, forcible manner. 

But Mr. Lincoln's greatness was not the greatness of 
intellect, nor of genius, nor of eloquence, nor of place 
and power. Like the illustrious Washington, he had no 
pre-eminent quality. Like Washington, he was great 
by reason of the moral heroism of his transcendent char- 
acter. 

His affections were pure and ardent, and in his heart 
there was no guile. His temperament was emotional ; 
his disposition was sweet and gentle as a woman's; his 
sensibilities were quick and acute; his impulses were 
warm and generous. He understood and felt in his in 
most soul the worth of human nature, and the inalienable 
rights of man. He felt for the poor and the oppressed, 
and his ear was ever open to the voice of their pleadings. 
As the great Emancipator of a doivn-trodden race, he zvill 
go into history, and his name vnll be cherished and his 
memory kept fragrant through the revolving centwies. For 
these qualities men loved him. They were proud that he 
was eminently a man of the people, and sprung from them. 



1 o 

He knew them and they knew him. They read his 
character ; they knew his heart ; they understood him. 

It may be that his work was done. Perhaps his death 
was not untimely. Possibly, had he survived, his dis- 
position would have inclined him to a too lenient policy 
toward the leaders of this atrocious rebellion. It re- 
mains to be seen what their course will be. I trust 
and pray God that their hearts may be touched by 
the influence of this last baptism of blood and sor- 
row, and that with deep penitence they will throw them- 
selves upon the clemency of the Government. 

But if it shall be otherwise — if they stubbornly, sul- 
lenly persist in cherishing and manifesting the spirit of 
treason, making their motto to read, " Bound, but not 
broken," then let the severities of immutable justice be 
meted out to them : let them die the death. So let it 
be, and may God have mercy upon their guilty souls. 

Ah ! my friends, these are solemn words. But the 
unspeakably vast interests of this Republic and of man- 
kind may summon this Government to their fulfillment. 
It may be that a man of sterner mood than the late 
President is required in the high place which has been 
so ably filled for over four years. 

In any event the Republic will survive, and the new 
President will receive the prayers and sympathies and 
support of the people, while they will not forget to bow 
down and thank God for the faithful services, the wis- 
dom, the unostentatious goodness, and the Christian 
heroism of Abraham Lincoln. 



14 

The deceased President, let me further add, was im- 
measurably above the use of those methods and arts to 
which men of inferior minds resort, to advertise them- 
selves. He appeared to be all unconscious of himself. 
He never aimed to seem to be, but to be what he seemed. 
From centre to circumference his character was honest, 
luminous, truthful. He spake just what he believed, 
and believed just what he spake. 

Was he a Christian man? I think he was. He 
said, " I do love Jesus." I believe what he said. We 
have it on unquestioned authority, that the first hour 
of the morning he was accustomed to devote to 
prayer and the reading of his Bible. I have myself 
been profoundly impressed, hearing him give utterances 
to the most devout sentiments in connection with the 
issue of this war, that he was a man of prayer and reli- 
gious faith. 

All his State papers breathed the very spirit of reli- 
gious reverence and trust, especially the later ones. 
After he had promulgated the proclamation of emanci- 
pation, he said to an eminent clergyman of New York, 
"I did not think the people had been educated up to it; 
yet I thought it was rigid to issue it, and I did it." 
Here is an instance of his reliance on God, indicating 
the spirit of true religion. His moral courage was such 
as seldom appears save in conjunction with deep religious 
faith, and the consciousness of soul integrity. From the 
commencement to the close of his official career the ma- 



15 

lignant spirit of treason sought his life, and he knew it? 
nevertheless he marched right forward in the path of 
duty, not counting his life dear unto himself. He had 
the faith in God, the reverent spirit, the firmness and 
consistency of moral principle, the purity of heart and 
character, the sweet and loving disposition, the Christ- 
like quality of forbearance toward his enemies, which, 
in our view, are only to be found in the character of a 
man of God; and perhaps there is no better thing I can 
wish for each of my audience than that when you come 
to stand before God's judgment, it may be as well with 
you as it is with him, and that your record may be as 
clean, and your destiny as high for eternity as was his. 

In deliberation Mr. Lincoln was not hasty, nor pre- 
mature ; but when once he had taken his stand, he was 
the last man to swerve from the course marked out for 
himself. 

Tender and benignant as was his disposition, his con- 
duct was marked by unwavering fidelity to truth, jus- 
tice, and right. If he deliberated well, and looked with 
clear-eyed sagacity down to the bottom before he ven- 
tured, there was no after hesitation, no quibbling, no 
fear of consequences. He paid no lip service, no half 
allegiance. What he believed he believed with all his 
heart, and what he did he did from conscientiousness. 
He was thus ever true to principle, and ever true to 
himself, and I am constrained to believe, ever strove to 
realize in his conduct and character, and official acts, 



16 

religious rectitude; and to exhibit, in conjunction with 
his living, gushing sympathy for men, inflexible devotion 
to truth, justice, and right. 

Such were the character and virtues and services of 
Abraham Lincoln. 

In after times the American people will cherish his 
memory as a precious legacy, nor will they suffer any 
detraction from the merit of his character or his services. 
His name and fame will be identified with all that is 
great and glorious in the cause and principles for which 
the people have made such immense sacrifices in this 
great struggle, and to which he fell a martyr. May his 
illumined spirit find eternal repose above the skies ! 

My friends, I have ceased to think and feel as I did. 
At first I was inexpressibly shocked, appalled, de- 
pressed. I said, is this so? Is the Chief Magistrate 
of this nation murdered ? They have been trying for 
four years to do the deed. Is it accomplished at last ? 
Is he dead ? Are those dreamy eyes closed in death ? 
Has that warm heart, that genial smile, that honest brain 
passed away forever ? 

I could not think at first of anything but the deed. 
In vain I strove, as we all did, for words to express my 
abhorrence of it. I could only think of Abraham Lin- 
coln as a murdered man. But now I think of the glori- 
ous spirit — of the immortal part — which malignity and 
murder could not touch, — as garnered and glorious, and 
eternally safe with God. He rises now before me in 



17 

vision, bright and beautiful as the star of the morning. 
Immortality has now put its impress upon his goodness 
and worth. My faith contemplates now only the image 
from which death can efface nothing more. Henceforth 
I shall think of him as numbered with the immortals, 
sharing their communion and their joys. 

And now what shall we say of the spirit which slew 
him ? He was no tyrant. He did no wrong for which 
he was worthy of death. In his great heart there was 
pity even for traitors. He was their best friend; and 

" He hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been 
So clear in his great office, that his virtues 
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against 
The deep damnation of his taking off." 

As for the spirit which slew him, let us hate it, and pray 
God for more strength and more power and more inten- 
sity and more capacity to hate it. I tell you, my friends, 
it is the very spirit of hell. It is the very spirit that 
long defeated public justice, debauched the conscience, 
ruled in the halls of legislation, and sat on the bench of 
the highest court in this land, perverting justice and 
judgment. It is the very spirit which organized this 
rebellion, and which has suggested and sanctioned its 
atrocious wrongs. It is the dark spirit, invested with 
the guilt of immeasurable crimes, the spirit of Slavery. 
May, then, this spirit be cast down to everlasting death. 
Standing together, heart speaking to heart, hand grasp- 
ing hand, let us— and with us may the loyal millions— 



18 

swear to avenge the martyrdom of Abraham Lincoln, 
by consenting to no terms of pacification, until the work, 
so gloriously begun and carried forward by him, is com- 
pleted; until treason is forever silenced, and slavery is for- 
ever dead, and the Republic, regenerated and redeemed, 
emerges from its long eclipse of darkness, "fair as the sun, 
clear as the moon, and terrible as an army with banners." 

As for the miscreant that did the deed of murder, the 
brand of Cain's infamy is upon his brow — the eye of 
Omniscience is upon him. He may possibly elude de- 
tection, and baffle man's justice, — which is extremely 
doubtful — but God's vengeance will follow him wherever 
over the earth he wanders. There is no place of hiding, 
no nook or corner or crevice in the universe where he 
can escape the presence of Omnipotent Justice. " There 
is no darkness, neither shadow of death, where he may 
hide himself." For ever has he doomed himself to en- 
dure the burning consciousness that he is a murderer. 
Ten thousand years hence must he feel and know him- 
self to be a guilty spirit — the murderer of the innocent 
and just man. 

What a doom and destiny is his ! In my soul I 
pity this man of blood, and I pray God that he may 
be overtaken by a sense of his guilt, surrender him- 
self to justice, and apply to the infinite Saviour for 
pardon, ere his soul pass into eternity. 

Meantime the Republic lives, and will live forever. 
The assassinating spirit that slew the man who, under God, 



19 

presided over the destinies of the nation, was, and is, 
powerless to harm the life of the nation. 

So far from producing terror; so far from causing di- 
vided counsels, or inaugurating a reign of anarchy; the 
deed of blood and murder has welded the people into an 
inflexible purpose, and into a tremendous power, bent 
upon accomplishing retributive justice. It has inclined 
the nation to think and determine, less upon clemency 
and more upon justice. There will be no concessions 
now to the master spirits of rebellion. They have made 
their self-destruction sure. 

Meanwhile this Republic lives, and will live forever. 
Our grand chief is slain, but our grand cause is trium- 
phant. Men may die, but principles are immortal. 
Though treason had struck down every member of the 
cabinet, not a stone would have been misplaced or loos- 
ened in the arch of our nationality. 
Slavery has staked all and lost. 
Liberty has won for itself an immortal existence. 
Now let Republicanism, purer, better, stronger, holier, 
through sacrifices and martyrdoms, lift up her head 
among the family of nations. 

Though our most eminent statesmen pass hence, and 
the delegated head of the Government meet with sudden 
and violent death, the Government itself cannot be over- 
thrown ; for the foundations upon which it stands are 
Liberty, Justice, and Equality; and neverwere thefriends. 
of these so numerous, so determined, so devoted as now. 



20 

Thank God, there is no hatred malignant enough, and 
no power strong enough to quench the nation's life, or 
arrest its advancing destiny. Now let the influence of 
Freedom go forth and encompass the earth. Now let 
the star of our destiny rise on the world's horizon, bright 
and beautiful, climbing higher and higher, until it at- 
tracts the admiring gaze of distant nations, and becomes 
the world's star of hope. May God speed the day; and 
to Him be all the praise. Amen and amen! 

And now shall I err, my friends, if I summon you — 
in view of all that God is doing for us — in his most holy 
name, to put away sin ; to put your trust in the infinite 
Redeemer and devote your lives to his service ; to do 
justice, walk in the light, and live for immortality ? God 
has given us a fair land, and a noble Government. His 
hand is holding us up in this great struggle, and crown- 
ing our cause with victory. Here then and now, let us 
gratefully consecrate ourselves to his service. May 
none of us hesitate or falter in our allegiance to Heaven. 
May every heart throb with gratitude for Divine bless- 
ings. May every life be holy, and every lover of his 
country be a lover of God and a follower of Jesus. 
Here and now, let us offer prayers for our country, in- 
voking the blessing of our covenant-keeping God, with 
whom are the hidings of power, and the consolations of 
grace. 

May our country be Immanuel's possession, — a de- 
lightsome land, exalted, as in privileges so in right- 



21 

eousness. May our rulers be men of God, and our 
people be virtuous and good. God bless and save the 
Republic ! 






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